Category Archives: General

Sharon Bakar and I have been discussing about me attending the Readings for a very long time. Basically, writers read from their works at this monthly event held at Seksan Gallery in Bangsar. Commitments, and procrastination, somehow saw to it that I never made it after more than two years. Admittedly, I am not a literary person but I used to read voraciously at one point in time of my life. My favourites are Asian writers with stories of events that are closer to home.

Readings from Readings 2 and Readings from Readings.

When Readings sought funding to publish the second book titled Readings from Reading 2, I jumped at the opportunity to support the initiative. The book and bookmarks came in the mail yesterday. Sharon had kindly included the first book for me too. Both are anthologies of short stories and poems that were featured at Readings which suited my short attention span. The large print is also easy on the eyes. I am sure these are two books I will enjoy reading. They are also available in bookshops now.

This is the time of the year where pyramidal-shaped trees are decked out in colourful and glittery ornaments to herald in the season. There is an air of festivity in shopping malls with many retail outlets promoting Christmas sale to attract shoppers.

Live Christmas trees on sale at Ikea.

Ikea was already selling live Christmas trees when we were there last weekend. They gave out a distinct fresh scent. Seeing them replete with baubles and garlands put me in a celebratory mood. And it is not even December yet!

On our days out, Wuan and I used to buy drinking water and discard the empty plastic bottles afterwards. These petroleum-based plastic bottles are made from a non-renewable energy source. Most of them are not recycled and end up in landfills where they take thousands of years to biodegrade. In addition to that, transporting these bottles from the factory to consumers and then to the landfills burn up fuel that pollute the air.

Using this stainless steel water bottle helps save Mother Nature.

Sometime in 2010, we resolved to reduce polluting the environment with these bottles and got a stainless steel water bottle instead. We fill it up with filtered tap water before going out. It has seen better days. I have dropped it on many occasions. Apart from the dings, it is generally very durable and will last for many more years to come. I estimate that we have cut down our usage by 250 bottles for the past two years and saved RM125 in the process. Most of all, we are happy to be able to play a small part in preserving the environment.